Full Methodolgy Report

Overview of the SPARC Intervention and Study Design
The SPARC intervention provided treatment households with access to a refurbished Dell Pentium II/III computer, dial-up Internet access, speakers and a printer, office and educational software programs. Supplemental services included introductory training, monthly follow-up training on a range of technical skills, technical assistance with computer and Internet problems, a monthly newsletter, and access to a program website that included links to other useful websites for students and parents.

The study design that was put in place to evaluate the impact of SPARC relied on a lengthy recruitment process that was specifically designed to identify elementary schools serving predominately low-income households and students who did not have access to a working home computer. The strength of the study design was enhanced by the use of random assignment within study students’ 5th grade classrooms, which enabled us to examine the impact of SPARC between treatment and control group participants.  As shown in the exhibit below, Westat employed a wide range of data collection activities to address each of the study’s research questions. These included a household recruitment survey, pre- and post-intervention student and parent surveys, case studies and focus groups, a teacher log and a teacher survey, as well as the collection of grades and PSSA assessment scores from schools and districts.

Please feel free to review the following resources.

PA eSPARC Student Case Study Protocols

PA eSPARC Teacher Log

PA eSPARC Teacher Survey

PA eSPARC Post Intervention Student Survey

PA eSPARC Computer Maintenance Survey

PA eSPARC Post Intervention Parent Telephone Survey

PA eSPARC Household Recruitment Survey

PA eSPARC Parent Focus Group Protocols